Take price into consideration before buying a smartphone
A friend and I have a continual tussle over whose phone is better. Motorola’s or Google’s.
He thinks his Motorola is best because it can go three days on a single battery charge and works great. Tracfone has them starting at $20. But TheVerge.com, a leading tech site, agrees with me that Google’s Pixel phones are best.
Pixel phones get updates from Google as soon as they occur, just as iPhones get them from Apple. Plus, they have great cameras without the staggering price of iPhones and Samsungs. Last year’s Pixel 4a is $349, not much more than the $300 Moto G Stylus, but there’s a big but.
The big but is that every Android phone I’ve seen except a Pixel phone is a lot cheaper when you buy it from a carrier. For example, the Moto G Stylus, which just came out this year, is only $190 on Consumer Cellular. For Pixel phones, the carrier is either Google Fi or Verizon, where I didn’t see any discounts.
Am I a cheapskate? No, I’m just leery of spending more than $400 for a phone, knowing how fast they depreciate. My Pixel 3a, originally $399 when it came out two years ago, is now worth $57, according to Flipsy.com. That doesn’t mean I could buy one for that price, it’s what I’d probably get for selling it. A Galaxy Z Fold 2, originally $1,999, is valued at $715. According to Flipsy, Galaxy Z phones retain about a third of their value, unlike iPhones, which retain around 65% of the original price. But once in the Android universe, one tends to stay in the Android universe.
If you want to buy a used phone, a good bet is Gazelle. com. Gazelle says its phones are “certified, pre-owned,” which means they’ve been thoroughly cleaned and inspected. I saw an iPhone SE second generation for $209 (with AT&T service), and a Samsung Galaxy S10 (with Verizon) for $329, among many others. I saw lower prices on eBay, but without the guarantee. Walmart.com has some
great deals on refurbished Pixel phones. But read the reviews. Reviewers of the sub-$100 Pixel phones report scratched lenses, screen shadows and other problems.
Before you sell or give away an old phone, check out CNET’s tips. It suggests removing your SIM card and destroying it, or canceling your eSIM card — a kind of virtual SIM card, if your phone has one of those. Search on “remove ‘eSIM’ card,” to find instructions. Put “eSIM” in quotes so it isn’t auto-corrected. After removing the SIM or eSIM card, do a factory reset.
READING IN THE SHOWER
Showerspecs are reading glasses that don’t fog up. The company says it’s for reading labels on your shampoo, or perusing your water-resistant smartphone. I think a better use is reading books in the bathtub. I love doing that. I sometimes use the Kindle app on my Android phone, but am very careful not to drop it in.
Since close-up vision is my super power, I can’t adequately test them, however. If you want to give Showerspecs a whirl, they’re available in plus 2, plus 2.5 and plus 3.0 close-up strengths. They have a hook on them so your glasses are always hanging in the shower. They’re $65 from showerspecs.com.
WINDOWS 10 TO THE RESCUE
A tech once told me that the biggest source of his earnings were from customers who went to Downloads.com to try out free programs. They often contain bugs.
Now Microsoft is fighting back. This month an automatic upgrade in Windows 10 adds a download filter to block “potentially unwanted applications.” If you want to tweak the settings, search on “Reputation Protection” in the search bar in the lower left of your screen.
READERS TO THE RESCUE
When writing about the Thermapen for measuring the temperature of meat, etc., I mentioned that you can get a reading by inserting the probe just an eighth of an inch. But as a reader tactfully points out, you have to stick it all the way into the center if you want to know the temperature in the middle. Thanks Reader!
Slow internet: The head of the Bella Vista Computer Club doubts my statement that using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) could prevent your internet service provider from slowing down your service in favor of more profitable customers. As he puts it: “A VPN would only be effective against speed throttling if it were based on the target IP address of the data, in which case the delays could be introduced not just by your service provider but by any communications company owning the paths through which your packets pass. If all traffic to the recipient is affected, not just your traffic, then it’s not really your service that is being throttled, but the service of the recipient of your data.” Phew, some of my readers are so sophisticated.
“Throttling” has been a big concern during the debate over net neutrality. But the only throttling going on today, thanks to public pressure, is the kind you sign up for yourself. With many carriers, if you don’t want to pay for extra data, you can still access the internet, but at a slower speed.
INTERNUT
Search on “ZDNet Best Websites for Online Education” to get a big list. Categories include“Life Insights” where I saw some great exercise classes. Under “Coaching,” I found “TheMuse,” for career advice.